“It’s honestly just luck,” Mikala Fields said as she accepted her prize July 2. “You actually can win.”

But luck had nothing to do with it, according to a North Carolina Education Lottery investigation. The Lottery accused Fields of conspiring with her husband, Sean Mewherter, who works at the local Kangaroo Express and is accused of stealing the winning ticket.

Oak Island police have arrested Mewherter and charged him with larceny and possession of stolen goods over $100,000.

“A lot of safeguards are in place to ensure lottery prizes are honestly won,” Alice Garland, executive director of the NCEL, said in a statement Wednesday. "In this case, lottery players didn’t get the chance they should have had to win that prize. So when the money is recovered it will be used as prize money in a future instant game.”

No charges have been filed against Fields. When she accepted the prize, she opted for the after-tax lump sum, which rounded out to about $408,000. She told the lotto she planned to use the cash to buy a new home, a car and fund her nursing degree. Officials haven't said whether the couple managed to spend any of the cash before police intervened.